The present invention relates generally to the production of diapers, particularly adult incontinence diapers, and more specifically, to methods of producing such diapers in large sizes.
One of the growing problems in the United States is obesity. In the manufacturer of disposable adult incontinence diapers, this problem has resulted in difficulty in fabricating diapers of a sufficient width to accommodate larger individuals.
Such diapers basically comprise three main components: an inner web or sheet of a liquid permeable material, typically a non-woven, for direct contact with the wearer's body, an intermediate core of a liquid absorbent material typically in the form of a pad of hydrophilic fibers and often including a supplementary absorbent medium such as a super absorbent polymeric material for capturing and holding bodily fluids passing through the permeable inner layer, and an outer web or sheet of a liquid impervious material usually comprised of a laminate of film and non-woven materials to retain liquid within the absorbent core against leakage from the diaper.
In the industry, the sizes of adult incontinence diapers are generally only differentiated in primary sizing groups such as “medium”, “large”, “extra large” and “extra-extra large”. Essentially, while there may be minor differences in the overall length or “rise” of “extra large” and an “extra-extra large” diapers, the only major difference between an “extra large” size diaper and an “extra-extra large” size diaper is in the girth, i.e., the overall outermost width of the diaper which determines the range of wearers' waist sizes the diaper will accommodate, but the widthwise dimension of the central body of the diaper, which comprises the crotch area with the absorbent core, is substantially the same for each diaper.
The so-called “converting” machinery forming the production lines for manufacturing adult diapers necessarily have dimensional limitations and typically are capable of handling sheet feed stock, out of which the inner and outer layers of such diapers are made, only up to a maximum width, e.g., 32 inches, which is insufficient to provide the necessary overall width for a diaper to accommodate an “extra-extra large” waist size. The end result is that incontinent diapers are not available in sufficiently larger sizes to fit many larger individuals. This problem, is only compounded by the fact that a disproportionate number of such individuals have need for incontinent products such as diapers.
While the above-described problem can be overcome by constructing converting machinery in larger dimensions to accommodate wider sheet feed stock materials, a single converting line of equipment typically costs many millions of dollars to construct, which necessarily makes this solution extremely expensive and highly impractical. Hence, a need exists in the industry for a way to efficiently mass produce adult incontinence diapers in “extra-extra large” sizes, utilizing existing converting machinery without requiring modification thereof.